Finding Love
by ZashleyrulesWildcat4life
Summary: Troy is a lost soul after tragady struck his life. Sharpay is a broken soul after she's been hurt in the wrost way. When the meet each other for the first time will they find love? They say you find love in the strangest places.
1. Dealing with pain

**Disclamer: I do not own anything. **

"Rise and shine, sunshine" A male voice groaned when the bright sun came into his room. "Troy, get your ass out of bed" Troy let out a moan and pulled the covers over his head some more.

The woman let out a laugh and walked out of the room, soon enough she walked back and she had a bottle of water in her hand.

"Last warning Troy or I swear you'll have the worst awaking ever" She unscrewed the cap and waited for his reaction. Troy stuck his hand out from under the cover, for a second she thought that maybe he was going to get up; instead he just gave her the finger.

With another short laugh, the woman, pulled the cover off his head and poured the ice cold water onto his head. Troy shot out of bed and let out a scream.

"What the fuck Gabi?" Gabriella just smiled at him. "What the hell do you want and how the hell did you get in here?" He ran a hand over his icy blue eyes.

"Are you drunk again?" Gabriella Montez bent down to his level and looked into his eyes.

"I was drunk last night, today I'm hung over" Troy Bolton gave him a small smirk.

"Why am I not surprised? You need to stop drinking the pain away Troy, you don't even remember what you gave to me yesterday do you?" Gabriella took a seat beside Troy on the bed.

"I don't drink the pain away, I drink cause its fun and no... I don't remember" Troy stood up and grabbed a shirt to put on.

"You gave me a key to your place, told me to come whenever I wanted. You were probably half way to getting drunk" Gabriella walked out of the bedroom and into his bathroom to get some pills.

While Gabriella left the room, Troy looked into the mirror and took a good look at what he saw. His normally, sky blue eyes, were blood shot and dulled, his brown hair was all over the place, he wasn't clean shaven. Troy hadn't been clean shaven in a long time, clean shaven was the way she...

"Then she wonders why I dink" He turned his head to the doorway when he saw Gabriella walk back in.

"Here, take these for your head" She handed him two pills and sat back down on his bed. "You should see the bottles out there, you really had a feast" Troy took the pills and raised an eyebrow to her.

"What can I tell you?" Troy started to make his way to the bathroom, Gabriella close behind.

"You can tell me that you won't drink this much, Troy, this drinking problem is going to kill you. I'm your grief councillor and friend; you can tell me is it hurts. I'm here for you Troy" She put a hand on his shoulder which he brushed off.

"I'm fine" He mumbled as he closed the bathroom door.

Gabriella let out a sigh; she took a look around his apartment and decided she was going to help him clean up.

-  
"Mommy, mommy, mommy" Austin Evans jumped on to his mothers bed, shocking her out of her sleep.

"Austin, bud, what's up?" Sharpay rubbed the sleep out of her, chocolate brown, eyes.

"You've been sleeping all day, I'm hungry mommy" The five year old whined.

"Sorry baby, give me five more minutes and I'll have your lunch ready" Sharpay sat up in the bed some more and stretched her arms out to him. "Give me a hug, bud" Austin smiled at her as he leaped in to her arms.

Austin let go of his mother and went back to the living room, Sharpay ran a hand through her blond hair and looked around her room. She was trying to figure out what happened last night, it was such a blur to her. She took another look around the room and her eyes fell on the needle lying on her floor, she picked it up and understood why she couldn't remember what happened. She had gotten high last night, for the first time in a long time. Yesterday marked the amount of time her ex-boyfriend, the man she loved, walked out on her and her son.

-  
"There you go Mac & Cheese, your favourite" Sharpay put the plate in front of her son and kissed the top of his head.

"Thank you mommy" Austin started digging into his food right away. "Mommy, are you going to be here tonight?" His, blue-green, eyes looked up at her and she felt bad right away.

"Sorry bud, I'm working tonight, but Tracy will be here. I know you like her" Sharpay bent down to his level and gave him a smile. Austin looked away and had a sad look on his face.

"I like her mommy, but I love you and I miss you at night. Why can't you work in the morning like other parents?" Sharpay made him look at her.

"My job needs me to work at night, but I'll tell you something. This weekend we are going to have the best time ever, we'll spend the whole two days together" Sharpay grabbed a chair and sat beside him with her arm around him.

"Do you promise?" Austin raised an eyebrow, something he got from his mom.

"I'll do you one better, I'll pinkie promise" Sharpay stuck her pinkie out; Austin smiled and did the same. "There's the smile I love" She kissed the top of his blond head again.

**A/N: Hey guys please review and tell me what you think of this story. **


	2. Work Safety

**Disclamer: I do not own anything. **

Troy was walking to the nearest liquor store, smoking a cigarette...well at least he was trying to. It was pouring rain outside and he was having a really hard time lighting his smoke. Getting fed up he tossed it back into his coat pocket, he looked back up at the street. The second his eyes looked up, he caught sight of a woman he couldn't tare his eyes aware from.

His eyes followed her as she started to cross the street, she slipped a little and he stared to walk her way wanting to help her. He stopped himself from crossing the road when he saw her balance herself, suddenly the wind picked up and her umbrella got turned inside out and fell from her hands.

Troy watched her bend down to pick up the umbrella when he saw a bright light heading her way, right away he ran on to the road and pulled her out of the trucks way. They both landed on the hard New York pavement, Troy on top of the woman.

"Are you okay?" Troy looked down into her, brown eyes, still not moving.

"Yeah...thanks for saving me" She gave him a small smile, soon she realized the position she was in.

When they landed, Troy ended up between her legs and her arms were around his neck. It was a very awkward position for two strangers to be in.

"Do you mind if I get up?" Troy quick moved and helped her up.

"Sorry" Troy stuffed his hands into his coat pocket the second she was on her feet.

"Please, don't be sorry you saved my life" the woman offered him a smile.

"Just words of advice, if something falls, don't risk your life to pick it back up, especially, in New York" They both let out a laugh.

"Don't worry, I won't make that mistake again, thanks again" The woman gave him a small smile.

"Good" Troy smiled back before they both looked away awkwardly. "Alright well be safe"

"I will same goes for you" They both took off in different directions.

-  
Sharpay looked over her shoulder at the man that had just saved her life and smiled to herself.

_"At least there are still some descent men around" _

She felt a vibration in her pocket; she quickly reached for her phone. She checked her phone and saw that it was her son calling her; worry took over body as she answered the phone.

"Hey baby, what's wrong?" She continued to make her way to work.

"Nothing, I just miss you mommy" Hearing those words broke her heart.

Sharpay wanted nothing more than to be with her son 24/7, but she couldn't, she needed to go and work so she could put food on their table. The last thing she ever wanted was to be doing the job she is doing, she never wanted her son to feel like she was abandoning him like his father did.

"I'm sorry baby; I wish I could be there. Austin, play with Tracy baby and I'll be home before you know it, I promise" Sharpay finally made it to her workplace and waited outside.

"Ok" She heard the sigh in his voice. "I love you mommy"

"I love you too bud" Sharpay hung up the phone with a sad smile.

"Hey" Sharpay looked up and saw the man that saved her life today.

"Hey, well if it isn't my hero" The man let out a small laugh at her comment. "Are you following me now?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe I'm just making sure you cross the street safely" This time Sharpay let out a laugh. "No, I was just going to this liquor store. Good to know you made it safely to uh..." He gave her a shrug.

"Work" Stacy finished for him.

"Safely to work and you work at the..." She watched his eyes look up at the name of the building. "Finding Love club, but that's a...oh" She also watched as he gave her a once over.

She was wearing a long trench coat that ended at her knees; nothing was covering her legs and on a night of pouring rain that made the weather cold didn't seem right. To top it all off she is a woman working at the Finding Love Strip Club, it didn't take much to figure out she was a stripper.

"I know those eyes, those are judgemental eyes" She let out a sarcastic laugh as she looked away.

"Not judging, I swear. Everyone needs to make a living somehow, just be safe" Sharpay nodded and smiled.

The man turned his back, but soon turned back around.

"Troy Bolton"

"What?" Sharpay balanced her foot on the door to keep it open.

"My name it's Troy Bolton" Troy gave her a small smile.

"Sharpay Evans"

"Nice to meet you Sharpay" Troy stuffed his hands in to his pocket.

"Nice of you to save my life Troy" Sharpay flipped her hair away from her face.

He smiled once more before turning to walk away again, until he heard her say his name.

"Troy" He turned back around. "How the hell did you get here before me? You went in the complete different direction"

"This is New York City, I took a cab" They both laughed.

"Later Troy" She gave him a small wave.

"Bye" Leo did the same.

**A/N: Thanks to the people that reviewed. **


	3. Meetings and Greetings

**Disclamer: I do not own anything. **

Gabriella walked up the stairs to Troy's apartment.

"Troy you up?" Gabriella closed the door behind her and had her back to the apartment.

Just as Gabriella turned she found Troy passed out on the couch, with a sigh she looked around the room. The apartment was as bad as normal, not as many bottles, but e still drank till he passed out.

"Troy, wake up" Gabriella shook him slightly.

"Morning Gabs" Troy replied with a groan in his voice.

"Wow, I think that's the nicest you've greeted me since you started drinking" Gabriella sat down beside him when he sat up.

"Yesterday was also the first day I smiled since...well you know" Gabriella gave him a huge smile.

"Can I ask why?" Troy gave her a nod and a small smile. "Wow"

"What?" Troy raised an eyebrow.

"When you smiled just now you looked like the Troy Bolton I remember" She rubbed his shoulder for a second with a smile. "So tell me, what put that smile on your face?"

"I met a girl yesterday, but it was a chance meeting, I really don't think I'll see her again" Troy stopped there not really wanting to get into details.

"Speaking as your grief councillor, you're making progress, so, why are you still drinking this much?" Troy put his head into his hands and let out a loud sigh.

"When I drink, it makes all the pain go away and there is a lot of pain. It got to a point that I couldn't take it anymore, so I found something that could make it less if only for a few hours" Gabriella followed his eyes to the picture sitting on his coffee table.

"They wouldn't want to see you like this Troy, you're hurting, I can help you through this but you need to let me help you" Gabriella started to rub his back.

"I don't know Gabi...it's just every morning I wake up and I'm alone in this house it just all comes back to me. Then all I feel is pain, Gabi, I miss them so much" Troy was trying to surpass the sob that was coming.

"Let it out Troy, you need to let the ripple affect happen" Gabriella moved in closer and wrapped her arm around him.

Troy let out the sob and then the tears came down, he turned and buried his face into her shoulder and started to cry.

"It's going to be okay Troy, you're going to be okay" Gabriella felt tears hitting her eyes.

-  
"Was he hot?" Tracy Smith bit into an apple.

"Tracy!" Tracy just shrugged; Sharpay looked into the living room to make sure Austin was preoccupied. "Yeah he was really hot" They both let out a laugh.

"Wow, hot and a good guy that's very rare" Sharpay rolled her eyes with a smirk. "Are you going to thank him?"

"What do you mean? I did thank him" Sharpay leaned on her counter.

"Shar, the guy saved your life, a simple "thank you" isn't enough and you know it" Tracy turned around and grabbed a big book. "Here, he gave you his name, look him up and take him to dinner or something" Tracy walked out of the room and back to Austin.

Sharpay let out a sigh and stared at the phone book, after a few seconds she started to go through the book looking for Troy Bolton.

"Troy Bolton, (585) 1423-322" Sharpay wrote it down on a piece of paper. "Later...I'll call him later" Sharpay put it up on her fridge.

-  
Troy walked Gabriella to the door of his apartment, they had finished talking and Troy needed sometime alone.

"Just try to take it easy Troy, if you need anything I'm one phone call away" Gabriella pulled him into a hug.

"Thanks Gabi...for everything" When they pulled back Troy gave her one more smile before he closed the door.

Troy walked over to his liquor cabinet and opened it up, he looked into it and started at the whiskey bottles that it is filled with. He was debating with himself to both deal with the pain and make progress or numbing it.

"I can make progress tomorrow" Troy grabbed the whiskey bottle and a glass.

He sat down on his couch and started to pour the drink, just as he was about to drink it the phone in the living room started to ring.

"Hello" Troy answered with a sigh.

"Hi, is this Troy Bolton?" The voice sounded familiar but Troy couldn't put a face to it.

"Yeah, who's this?" Troy put his drink down.

"Sharpay Evans" Troy gave a small smirk after that.

"Hey Sharpay, what can I do for you?" Troy leaned back on his couch.

"You can let me take you out to dinner as a thank you"

"You don't have to do that" Troy ran a hand through his hair.

"I don't have to, I want to. So, where do you want to go?" Troy let out a small laugh.

"How about you give me your addresses and I'll pick you up, then we can choose on the way" Sharpay hesitated before answering.

"Avenue A on 7th street the Sanders apartments, apartment number 113, pick me up tonight at 8. Sound good?" He could hear the smile in her voice.

"Yeah sounds good to me" They both hung up.

-  
Troy stopped at her apartment door; he pulled his hands out of his pocket and wiped them on his jeans. Taking a deep breath Troy knocked on the door; Sharpay opened the door with a smile.

"Hey Troy" Troy gave her a smile.

"Hi Sharpay, you look great" Sharpay gave him a smile back.

"Thank you, come in for a second I'm almost done" Troy nodded and walked in after her.

Troy stepped into the room and right away his eyes caught Austin sitting on the couch. Sharpay closed the door behind her and turned around, she saw Troy staring at her son.

"Austin, come here" Austin got up and walked up to his mom. "Austin, this is Troy Bolton, Troy, this is my son Austin" A look of realization hit Troy's face.

"It's meet you Austin" Troy shook his tinny hand.

"It's nice to meet you too" Austin smiled and went back over to the couch.

"I'll just be a second" Troy nodded and Sharpay took off.

Troy walked over to Austin and sat down beside him on the couch.

"What you up to Austin?" Austin looked at him before looking back at the TV.

"Playing some video games" Troy nodded and looked over to the TV.

"You know, when I was young I used to kick butt in these games" Austin looked at him with a smile.

"So you were good?" Troy let out a cocky laugh.

"I was the best" Austin stopped the game and looked at him with wide eyes.

"Can you teach me how to become that good?" Troy laughed.

"Of course I can bud" They gave each other a high five.

There was a knock at the door that caught Troy's attention, Sharpay came out of her bed room and opened the door.

"Hey Tracy, come on in" Tracy walked in and right away smiled at Troy. "Troy this is the babysitter, Tracy Smith, Tracy this is Troy Bolton" Troy got up and shook her hand.

"Hi Troy, hi Austin" Tracy walked over to Austin.

"Are you ready to go Troy?" Sharpay also walked up to Austin.

"Yeah, see you later Austin" Troy gave him a wave.

"Bye Troy" Austin did the same.

"Ok, see you soon baby, I love you" Sharpay kissed the top of his head before walking towards Troy.

"Bye momma, love you too" Sharpay blew a kiss to him as she closed the door.

**A/N: Thanks to the people that reviewed. **


	4. Table Talk

**Disclaimer: I do not own HSM...if I did there would be no Troyella, just Troypay :) **

Awkward was the best way to describe this dinner, very little conversation and when they started talking it wasn't anything interesting. Troy ran topics in his mind to talk to her about and then it hit him, family, she would have a lot to say about her son.

"Austin seems like a great kid" Immediately a glow hit Sharpay's face.

"Yeah, he really is and I love him so much, a mother could not ask for a better son" Sharpay took a bite out of her salad with a smile on her face.

"He looks a lot like you" Troy took a sip of his red wine.

"Lucky him" They both let out a laugh.

"You know, if I was your husband I wouldn't let you walk to that club alone, especially if you work there it's pretty dangerous at night." Sharpay looked at him over the rim of her own, red, wine.

"I don't have a husband" Sharpay said as she leaned back in her chair.

"I'm sorry, boyfriend?" Troy leaned on the table slightly.

"Don't have one of those either" An awkward look past Troy's face and Sharpay just had to smirk at it. "He left, 2 years ago."

"Which one, the boyfriend or the husband?" Troy propped his chin up with his hand.

"The boyfriend" Sharpay mocked his position.

"For a man?" At first a look that said 'What the fuck?' before she let out a loud laugh.

"No, no" She answered with a shake of her head and a smirk on her face.

"For another woman?" Troy took another sip of his red wine.

"I don't know, maybe, one day and he wasn't there when I woke up and he just never came back" Sharpay took a bite out of her salad.

"So, you have no idea why he left?" Troy raised an eyebrow.

"No clue" Sharpay took a long sip of wine.

"So it could have been for a man" They both laughed at that, Troy couldn't tare his eyes away from her smile.

"I would hate myself if I didn't get to see that smile everyday" Sharpay gave him a 'Are you for real' look, but couldn't help the smile that graced her face.

"Does that really work?" Troy simply shrugged.

"You're smiling aren't you?" Troy gave her his best smile.

"I...I...Shut up" They both chuckled at that, before going back to their food.

"Do you want to go on a walk with me through Central Park after dinner?" Sharpay smiled and gave him a quick nod.

Troy and Sharpay were strolling down Central Park, laughing and talking; they were having a great time.

"So, we talked about Austin a lot tonight, what about you? Do you have any kids?" Troy took a deep breath before answering.

"No" Troy kept his eyes straight ahead, not daring to look at Sharpay.

"Wife?" Even though she didn't know him, she could tell that something wasn't right...she could feel it.

"Lost her when I lost my girl" He forced the lump in his throat down, this wasn't Sharpay's problem and she sure as hell didn't need to know about it.

"She took her with her when she left?" Sharpay thought she had it all figured out.

"Yeah, you could say that" Troy ran a hand through his hair.

"I'm sorry Troy" Sharpay placed a hand on to his arm.

"Don't be, it has nothing to do with you" Troy offered her a smile, which she returned.

"I love Central Park at night" Sharpay looked around her surroundings.

"Yeah it's better than perfect" Troy dug into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette, he placed into his mouth and lit it.

"That's a really bad habit" Troy took a long drag before answering.

"You're too hot to start sounding like my mother" Sharpay nudged him with her elbow, Troy turned with a raised eyebrow.

"You think I'm hot?" Sharpay couldn't help but smirk at him.

"I'm a lot of things but I'm not a liar" Troy took another drag.

"Well in that case, thank you" They both smiled at each other, Sharpay looked down at her watch.

"I really gotta get home" Troy nodded at her.

"Alright, let's grab a cab" They started to make their way over to the street.

Sharpay loved that Troy was enough of a gentlemen to walk her to her door.

"Thank you for tonight, it's weird, it wasn't a date but it felt like one and the girl paid which is a little strange" They both let out a chuckle.

"I had fun, so you're welcome and thank you for making it fun" Troy just smiled at her. "And thank you for walking me to my door."

"No problem, I did it for my own benefit" Sharpay raised an eyebrow at that.

"Really and how does this benefit you?" Troy smirked at her before answering.

"I want to ask you out, on an actual date this time. What do you say?" Sharpay looked away from his eyes with a shy smile before answering.

"Sure, I would love to" Sharpay pulled him into a small hug. "FYI, you're pretty hot too, just saying" Troy laughed before letting go.

"Alright, I'll call you" Troy smiled before turning away.

"Leo!" He turned back. "You're going to need my number to do that"

Sharpay quickly gave him her number; he hugged her again before walking away. Sharpay walked into her apartment and leaned on the door with a smile on her face. Tracy walked up to her and held a knowing smile on her lips.

**Sorry, sorry, sorry for the long update please forgive me I promise on pain of death that the next one will not be long. **


	5. AN

**Sorry that this update is an A/N but I need to know if anyone is still interested in this story, I got no reviews for the last chapter and I just need to know if I should keep going. I do it for you guys and if you guys are not intersted there is no point. SO let me know. Thanks, sorry once again that it is an A/N**


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